


these scars

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Authors, Badass Rey, Body insecurity, Coping, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dark Romcom Esque sort of thing I guess, Depression, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mental Health Issues, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, References to Surviving Violent Child Abuse, Rey Needs A Hug, Romantic Fluff, Scars, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, The First Chapter is the Angstiest, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Writers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-10-31 19:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17855423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: Rey and Ben used to be friends, but their paths separate after Obi Wan Kenobi dies and Rey is whisked away to a group home controlled by a serial killer. Rey survives, only to pop up years later much different than how she was when she was a little girl.Ben is now the famous author, photographer, and literary critic Kylo Ren, who occasionally dabbles in other arts. He seems to be really successful, but lives a quiet life in the same apartment that he's had for years. He has scars too, albeit not as severe, recovering from past addiction and masking the misery in his life with dark humour, he recognizes Rey almost instantly when she moves in two doors down.Will they work together to be able to resolve their mental wounds?





	1. a little loss of innocence

 

**_2005_ **

Ben and Rey used to be best friends, if you could call it then. Ben was the type of kid that didn’t start talking until he was about seven, but he was smarter than anyone else than Rey had ever met and she loved that. Rey was the type of girl who didn’t know when to shut up, but cared for absolutely everyone and everything. Her grandfather thought that she cared a little too much sometimes, especially when she said that she didn’t tell on the kids that were bullying her at school because she thought they would get in trouble. Ben understood, even though he didn’t talk. 

When Rey came over, she would always go up the large staircase that they had in the middle of their house (she didn’t know the difference between a mansion and a regular house yet, despite the fact that the house that she and her grandfather lived in was much much smaller) and went to Ben’s room immediately. The two of them would play Jenga for hours on end and Rey would talk and talk and talk.

On one particularly bad day where Leia and Han were fighting about sending Ben to therapy so that he could talk, Rey snuck up to his room through a ladder that was left by the side of the house. She knocked on the window and Ben let her in, mainly because he thought that she’d fall and die if he didn’t. 

“Hey,” She knew to be quiet, she must’ve heard Leia and Han a few rooms down. She had something in her hand. It was a picture of a flower; the petals were yellow in the middle with black at the tips. It wasn’t anything remarkable by any means, but it meant the world to Ben. “Are you okay?” 

He shook his head no. Rey went silent for a minute before she looked back to him. “Why don’t you talk?” She asked him. He didn’t answer because of course he didn’t. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. I don’t know why they’re so mad about it. You’re just you, so what if you don’t talk, I think that’s okay.” The yelling got worse. Ben flinched. She was six then, he was eight, she hadn’t gone through what she would go through next.

***

Ben talked for the first time when Ben Kenobi died and CPS was outside of Rey’s house. She was shell shocked, being led away from her house with a garbage bag of her stuff. “What are you doing?” His throat was tight and his voice was hoarse but he kept talking. “Where are you taking her? What’s happening?” Leia was running after him, pausing when she heard him talk for the first time. 

Rey looked to him, maybe getting out of her shocked state for a minute or two. “Go back inside,” She tried her best to smile to him. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. I promise.” That was the last time he thought that he would ever see her again. 

***

**_2019_ **

The air was cool and crisp outside, something that it usually wasn’t in the middle of the city where smog frequented everything and infected everyone. Kylo Ren never went outside of the city, and it showed. He wasn’t one for parks, but on a particularly bad bout of writer's block that nearly brought him to consider the drugs that he was supposed to be quitting, Phasma had suggested that he take a walk. 

Clean air was supposed to help the brain after all. He supposed that that was true. The park was a beautiful sight, even if it was cold as all shit outside and threatening to snow. The lake was frozen over and looked like glass, there were a few runners but not many people. Kylo liked it more that way. It cleared his mind so he could think better. 

He liked this peace. He decided that he would take Phasma’s advice more. That was the first time that he saw her. Well, not the first time. Maybe the first time in a long time. He didn’t recognize her walking through the park with a burly black coat and thick green scarf covering most of her face. She seemed to avoid everything and everyone as she walked, keeping her eyes stuck to the ground, peeling them up every once and a while to look around as if to make sure that no one was following her. 

The two of them caught eyes for a moment. 

She looked away, hurrying her pace. 

He should’ve asked her if she was okay, but something told him that she didn’t want to be talked to. 

***

**_2008_ **

Not a lot of people got bragging rights to the worse childhood ever, but Rey did. She used to be something. Then she was moved into a group home – and the man running it was a serial killer. Rey didn’t realize it at first, but she knew that he was a shady person. The first thing that cued her into this was that her letters to Ben weren’t getting sent. Neither were her emails. The other girls in the group home would relentlessly tease Rey, especially when she resisted Unkar Plutt’s advances. 

“He’s trying to compliment you,” This one blonde girl said, “that’s all he’s trying to do. You shouldn’t be such a tease.” 

“You’re stupid,” Rey spat at her. She didn’t want him to look at her, didn’t even want to be in the same room with him. So, she avoided him at all costs, even if that meant that she wouldn’t eat. This ended up saving her life. Rey didn’t eat much, only when Plutt when out, she taught herself math and taught herself how to read better each day. 

One night when the house was still and the night was thick, Rey was restless. She tossed and turned and thought that she heard a bunch of banging sounds coming from downstairs. She didn’t know why she went down stairs, didn’t know why she thought that she should investigate what was going on. 

Rey went down stairs, knowing where each creak was in the stairs and knowing how to avoid raising notice. She saw the blonde that teased her so relentlessly, and Unkar Plutt, she could hear the girl making noises. They sounded like dying animals. Something told Rey that it hurt more than she was letting on. Rey went back upstairs before anyone could notice her down there.  She would wish for the day that she turned eighteen. 

Then, she wondered if she would even get to turn eighteen. One night, he called everyone to dinner and Rey wasn’t there. She had stayed up in her room because she just knew that something bad was going to happen. She was right too, after a while, she heard some of the girls start coughing. There was a thud, and then someone fell. Another person threw up. Rey didn’t get out of the house fast enough. She stayed in her room, petrified of what might happen. 

There were a lot of thuds, and wet sounds. Then he started to walk upstairs, and Rey knew that he was looking for her. Her fight or flight instincts came in, and she knew that in order to get out of the house, she needed to fight. “Rey,” He said, “I know that you didn’t come down for dinner.” There wasn’t much in the way of heavy things that Rey could possibly throw at him. Except for her backpack, and the backpacks of two other girls. She worked quickly, filling one of the bags with as many books as she possibly could. This was the most she had right now. 

It should work. 

It had to work.

Rey raised the bag in front of her and waited behind her dresser, he opened the door and something flashed before Rey’s eyes. The desire to keep her life outweighed everything else. She was eight then.

 ***

**_2019_ **

The next time Kylo saw her, she was opening the door to her apartment. She looked so familiar that he just had to say something as he passed her. After all, her apartment was two doors down from him. “Hey,” He said. She stopped, her eyes widened like she was a deer in headlights. Crap, he probably scared her. “Sorry, this is probably weird, but do I know you?” She shrugged, and he went to his door. “Are you new here?” 

“Yes,” She said, “moved in Saturday.” Kylo felt a little bad, he didn’t see her move in at all. But then again, he tried to either spend a lot of time in his bed or as far away from his apartment as possible 

“Oh,” He said, “well I'm sorry I didn’t bring a housewarming gift.” 

“Don’t feel bad,” Her voice was so quiet that it was almost hard to hear her. “No one really noticed I moved in here.” That just made him feel a little worse. 

“Well, what’s your name, neighbor?” 

Pause. 

“My name’s Rey,” She opened her door and waited for him to introduce himself. 

He didn’t know why he didn’t say Kylo. “Ben.” He said. He could’ve sworn he heard a flicker of something in her eye, he might have just been hallucinating. 

“Nice to meet you.” She squeaked, and then she went in and closed the door. Kylo turned back to his own door and walked inside, his head reeling a little bit. His head went back to when he was eight, and Rey came over almost every day, keeping him company. She was his only friend. 

The other girl probably wasn’t his Rey, though. 

There were a lot of girls named Rey. 

This was probably just a coincidence. 

***

**_2008_ **

The first time Unkar tried to stab her, it hit her backpack. She pushed as hard as an eight-year-old could push and managed to break out in a run. She dropped the backpack so that she could go faster. Going down the stairs proved a harder feat than she thought it would be. In the stairway alone were two bodies. One girl was struggling to breathe, another girl was already dead. She wanted to help the girl that was still alive sorely, but she had to get out of there alive. Rey started going down the stairs, hearing Unkar lumber after her. 

He grabbed her by the leg and she fell on the last step. She wasn’t going to let this be the last of her. Everything was silent in her head, she had to work quickly. She kicked as violently as she could and screamed her head off. 

The second time Unkar tried to stab her, she ended up with superficial cuts on her legs. She grabbed the side of a cabinet next to the stairs and pulled. He was saying something but she wasn’t listening. She managed to get up, not paying attention to the blood she was losing at that very moment. 

Rey began running, pushing things in Unkar’s way as she did. She managed to get all the way to the gate of the home before anything happened. Unkar got her again and she just remembered screaming, someone came out of their house, and he brought the knife down on her throat. For a while she couldn’t breathe, she thought she was going to die. 

She saw red and blue flashing lights and she woke up in the hospital.

***

**_2019_ **

He couldn’t stop thinking about her. He had to know if that was really Rey. The more he thought about her, the more he remembered old things that he didn’t remember before. How he wished that he would’ve talked to her sooner. He hadn’t seen her in such a long time. Kylo stayed in the quiet of his apartment for a long time, ignoring texts from his publisher. 

He almost wanted to call his mother, tell her that he saw someone that he could’ve sworn was Rey. He almost did. Almost. He didn’t know if it was really her, maybe he was just seeing faces where he wanted to see them, and maybe she was a different Rey. Maybe. 

He still had to find out, for his own peace of mind, if that was his Rey or not. He just had to figure out how to be able to tell. 


	2. ain't youth meant to be beautiful

**_2019_ **

Rey worked mostly at home. She moved mainly because she was tired of her overly nice neighbors trying to constantly come over all the time. It wasn't there fault, Rey just wanted some place where she wasn't noticed. In small towns where the sun was constantly out, she was constantly noticed.

_Knock, knock._

Rey wasn’t one to talk. 

Ever. 

She also wasn’t the type of person who had other people knocking on her door unless it was some type of solicitor. Except it wasn’t a solicitor, and someone was still knocking at her door. Rey felt like she was frozen in place for a few seconds before tugging a green turtleneck over her head. “Coming,” She said. “Coming.” She opened the door to see her neighbor from earlier. He was holding a bag of something in his hand. 

“Sorry,” He said, “I brought you a housewarming gift.” Rey remembered telling him that she didn’t need a housewarming gift. It wasn’t necessary. But whatever was inside the bag smelled delicious. 

***

**_2009_ **

**_“_** Rey,” The therapist tapped her pen on her board. It was something that she always did. An incessant habit that always annoyed Rey, but she knew not to complain about things that annoyed her anymore. “I know that it’s been several months and I know you may not be comfortable, but it’ll be easier to place you into a home if you start to talk.” Rey didn’t say anything, just looked down at her cup of tea. 

Her throat was sore, and now was the first time in months where she felt like she was able to drink something normally. “Hey, Rey. Isn’t today your birthday?” She was supposed to turn nine years old. Rey shrugged. She hadn’t been keeping track of the date. Why did it matter anyways?

 “I think that this is cause for celebration.” She told Rey. “You should’ve told me that it would be your birthday earlier. I would’ve got you a present sooner. What kind of cake do you like?” Rey didn’t know why it was the mention of cake that made her look up from her cup of tea. 

“That’s my girl.” She said. “You have four-hour sessions with me, two hours of mental therapy, two hours of physical. I think that we can dock an hour from physical to go get a cupcake and ice cream. Would you like that?” It was the first time since the house that an adult had been genuinely nice to her. Rey was surprised. She didn’t know what to expect. 

**_***_ **

**_2019_ **

“They’re cookies from the bakery down the street. Double chocolate chip, my guilty pleasure personally.” This man didn’t look like that sort of thing would be his guilty pleasure. He was built, solid. Something about him looked familiar. Rey took the bag from him. 

“Thank you.” She felt herself smile, it was something that she hadn’t done in a while. 

“No problem,” He said, “it’s not much but I felt bad for not giving you a housewarming gift when you came in. I know that you said that it was no problem, but my mother kind of engrained it in me that that was the thing that you were supposed to do.” 

“You’re sweet.” Rey didn’t know how to carry on this conversation. She was already tired from this small interaction right here, but that wasn’t the fault of the man in front of her. People just tended to have that effect on her. He seemed to be taking all of her in, which put her on edge. She wanted to find a way to close the door without seeming rude but she didn’t know how. 

He adjusted his glasses. “Sorry,” He told her, “this is going to seem weird and random but is your last name Kenobi?” Rey’s eyes widened. She felt like she was frozen for a minute before he continues. “Sorry, that sounds really weird but I had a friend. Rey Kenobi, and I was just wondering... Sorry I’m probably just seeing faces.” 

“What’s your name again?” 

“Ben,” Rey nearly dropped the bag of cookies. 

***

**_2010_ **

“I don’t want to have new parents.” Rey said. “I don’t want anyone to pretend like they like me or want me, I just want to be alone.” She told her therapist. It was the most that she had spoken in a long time. Her throat was sore again. Her skin was itching. “I just want to be alone.” 

“Being alone.” Her therapist told her. “No human can be alone for too long. We are a social species. We’re supposed to be social beings. You need someone who can love you, Rey. And people really can love you. Your scars don’t matter.” 

“They matter to me,” Rey said. 

***

**_2019_ **

**_“_** Ben,” Rey said. “Ben Solo?” She smiled, smiled more than she had in a long time. Then she thought, how the hell -- 

“Yeah,” He was smiling too. Ben thought that he might want to cry. “It’s me.” Rey stared up at him. 

“Gods, you’ve gotten tall.” She laughed. Rey didn’t ever remember the spike in happiness that she had like she did right at that moment. She felt like a kid, momentarily. “I used to be taller than you.” 

“Hard to imagine that now,” 

“Yeah, it really is.” 

She wasn’t sure how to process all of this. She hadn’t seen Ben Solo in a long time. “Well um, I’m sorry this is awkward. I don’t really know what to do with myself.” 

“Neither do I, it’s okay.” 

“Yeah.” He shifted on his feet a bit before saying, “You’re probably busy.” Rey held her cookies. Cookies like what she used to eat at Leia’s all the time. “So uhm, I’m going to go, but hopefully we can catch up sometime?” 

“Yeah,” Rey said, “soon.”


	3. we met at the movies

Rey worked from home a lot. All the time in fact. Her therapist had suggested that this was best for her. Her social anxiety never got better within the time that she went to her, and environments with a lot of people constantly talking to her was overwhelming. The movies were the one place that Rey still felt sort of normal. The one normal thing people did that didn’t require her to be greatly paid attention to. 

She always went on the Old Classic Mondays to see whatever was showing. Her work schedule allowed her to do such a thing. Rey preordered a ticket to see Rebel Without a Cause, getting the ticket printed out on the terminal when she heard a familiar voice. “One to see Rebel Without a Cause, please.” 

Ben was at the terminal right next to her. Rey’s eyes widened. It was clear that he didn’t know that she was there. She glanced back at him and he still didn’t notice her. She walked in, knowing that she should turn around and talk to him, but she was starting to freeze up.  _Come on, Rey. You’re a grown woman, you should be able to do this._ Except she couldn’t do this. Ben was big and tall and actually talked now. From what she knew, he was a successful author, and a damn good one too. 

Rey wasn’t the girl that she used to be. Not by a long shot. She doubted herself left and right and looked like she hadn’t slept in three years. Rey got in the snack line, and that’s when she heard Ben say, “Rey?” Rey turned around, relieved that she didn’t have to be the one to initiate conversation.

“Ben?” She hated that her voice was so weak. It reminded her that no matter how hard she tried to recover, there would still be one part of Plutt that would be with her for the rest of her life. “Fancy seeing you here.” 

“Yeah,” He said. “Weird, huh?” 

“Yeah.” Rey had to turn back to order herself a box of Junior Mints, but then she waited by the side of the line for Ben to order. 

“So what are you going to go see?” 

“Rebel Without a Cause.” 

“Me too.” He said. “You wanna--” He gestured to the theatre and Rey nodded. She smiled, not really knowing what to do as she and Ben went into the theatre. The two of them sat down together without asking each other if they wanted to. It was just a given. Both of them wanted to. 

Rey didn’t say anything else the rest of the movie. They just watched it. At one-point Rey ran out of Thin Mints, Ben offered up his popcorn. She raised an eyebrow and he made a gesture to go on and take some. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to, but he insisted. He buttered it well. She liked that. 

***

When the movie was done, Kylo and Rey walked out. Rey seemed like she was a little bit overwhelmed with all the other people around her, but when they were out in the bigger space, she was fine. “That was nice.” She said. “Really nice.” 

“Yeah.” They stood there awkwardly for a minute before Ben asked, “Could I walk you to your car?” 

“You don’t have to do that.” Rey said. “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” Something told Ben that that was a polite way of saying no. 

“Well, I’ll see you then.” 

“Yeah,” Rey said, “yeah.” 

“Don’t be a stranger.” 

“I won’t.” 

Something told Kylo that he would have to be the one to initiate most of their interactions in their relationship. That was exactly what ended up happening. Kylo was busy as shit for the next few weeks afterwards. There was photoshoots and meetings and contracts that would eventually end in movie adaptations of his books that were probably going to be bad, and when Kylo came back home he would either want to drop into bed and die or start drinking again. 

He needed to breathe, and he hadn’t been given a chance to breathe yet. 

He was going to give himself a chance to breathe. Kylo walked out of his apartment so that he could be Ben again, and knocked on Rey’s door. He didn’t know if she would answer or of if she was awake. 

She answered. “Hey,” She looked so tiny, wearing a turtleneck that covered everything and pajama pants. 

“Sorry, were you about to go to sleep? I can leave.” 

“It usually takes me awhile.” She said. “You wanna come in?” 

“If you wouldn’t mind,” 

“No, I wouldn’t mind.” She said. Rey gestured for him to come into her apartment. The first thing that Ben noticed was that, besides the picture of her grandpa sitting right next to the entrance, there wasn’t any pictures of Rey in the apartment. No pictures of a family that she went with. There was nothing. There were a few art pieces here and there, but the curtains were drawn over the windows and there was not one mirror in sight. 

The living room was relatively dim, but the couch was big and she seemed to be a big fan of blankets. “Please, sit.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah,” He sat down. 

“Do you want anything to drink?” 

“No, I’m good. I just needed someone to talk to.” 

Rey nodded, knowing that it was the right time to sit down. “What do you want to talk about?” 

“I don’t know, catch up. I’ve been working a lot and I don’t really want to dwell on it right now.” Rey pursed her lips, opening her mouth to say something but then stopping herself. “I missed you a lot, growing up.” He told her. “And I’m sorry that I never talked to you more,” 

“It’s okay,” Rey said, “it wasn’t the talking that mattered to me. It was the fact that when we hung out together, you smiled like I was really making you happy. All I ever wanted to do was make people happy. If that makes sense.” 

“It does.” 

“The fact that you cared, when I was being taken away. That mattered too. It made me feel like I actually had a friend. I thought about you a lot too. You helped me get through some really tough days.” Ben wanted to cry. He really wanted to cry. He wished that he was strong enough to actually get himself through tough times he was going through, but it was times like these, when things got really chaotic, that made him feel like he was barely holding it together. “Knowing that you grew up to be a successful person meant a lot to me.” 

“I don’t want to talk about that right now.” 

“Right,” Rey said. 

“What do you do? As a job?” 

“I work from home.” Rey said. “As a copy editor, and I do some freelance editing on the side. And if you’re wondering, oh god why isn’t she poor, it’s because of my grandpa’s trust funds and some smart investing on my part.” 

Ben laughed. “That’s good. That you’re not poor, I mean.” 

“Thanks.” Rey leaned back in her seat, and Ben looked down. He noticed her adjusting her collar but didn’t think anything of it. “How was childhood without me?” 

“There was a lot of therapy,” Ben said, “a lot asking why I wasn’t talking until you were taken away and a lot me not knowing how to answer the question.” 

“Did you ever answer the question?” 

“Yeah, I wanted to disappear. You made me not want to. I was finally starting to feel safe around someone else and have a friend. I was planning on talking to you and then everything happened and my only friend was being taken away. It kinda sucked.” 

“Yeah. A lot of things suck. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of things that suck.” 

“I don’t doubt that.” Ben said. “But I’m here now, maybe we can come to each other when things suck, and just dump it all out.” 

“Yeah.” Rey was actually smiling again, and Ben felt proud of himself for making her do that. “I would love that.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Rey had days where she couldn’t go outside. She didn’t want to be inside all the time, but there were days where she had to lock her doors and draw all the curtains and stay inside her room.

This was one of those days. She got under the covers and closed her eyes, hoping that this day would go by faster than most. She doubted that this was going to happen though, which just made her anxiety even worse.

She tried to think of something happy, something that would make her feel okay, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t think of something happy.

  
Her suffering was momentarily interrupted half way into the day when someone knocked on her door. Rey considered not answering the door for a bit, then tried her best to harden her resolve. “Who is it?” She asked.

  
“It’s uh, Ben.” Shit.

  
“Give me just a second,” Rey said. She ran back to her room and took off her tank top, finding a thick sweater that covered her neck and tugging it on before she ran back to the door and fumbled with the three locks that she had installed.

Sometimes she was struck with how unfairly beautiful Ben Solo was, and this was definitely one of those days. They had only reconnected recently, and Rey already knew that Ben wasn’t the type of person who smiled much, but when he smiled, he smiled in a way that made the world stop and Rey’s worries go away.

  
“Sorry, if I was interrupting something.” He said.

  
“You weren’t.” _You interrupted my panic attacks_. “What are you doing here?”

  
“I uh, I was free and I’m not really one who can sit still and do nothing for any period of time so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out and get a bite to eat.” Rey thought that maybe she should say no. The snow had turn to slurry and the roads were wet, more people would be out and she didn’t really want to be around people right now. “Or there’s a dine in movie theatre close by, we could see what’s going on down there.”

  
“Dine in movie theatre?” She watched Ben’s smile widen.

  
“That sounds great.”

  
“Great,” Rey told him. “Let me get my shoes on and find my bag and then I’ll meet you.” She closed the door again, feeling that perhaps she had been rude to close the door on his face, but she needed to breathe.

Needed to scold herself for agreeing to going out with him when she really thought that she couldn’t do this today. The thought of going out today scared her.

  
She decided that she couldn’t cancel though. She already told Ben that she would go with him. She put her shoes on and grabbed her purse and overcoat before opening the door to meet him. “Are you sure that I wasn’t interrupting anything?” Ben told her. He scratched the back of his head nervously. 

“I’m sure.” She told him. “I don’t go out much, so you inviting me out is good.” Her voice cracked a little at the end and Rey swore that she hated herself. Ben just stared at her. They headed to the garage instead of outside, and Rey swore that she saw the most expensive looking car that she had ever laid eyes upon.

She didn’t say anything about it, just admired the leather seats of the Cadillac that she got in and watched Ben get in the driver seat. The two of them were sat there in silence, but it didn’t seem awkward.

  
Ben wasn’t forcing her to talk, and they really didn’t need to. When they got there, Ben got out of the car first and grabbed the door for her. “Thanks.” Rey felt herself flush, feeling embarrassed that she was the way she was.   
“So,” He asked her, “do you know what you want to eat?”

  
“Do they have pizza there?” She asked.

  
“Yeah,”

  
“Do they have by the slice or the whole thing?”

  
“I think it’s the whole thing, but if you want to split a pizza then we can split a pizza.”

  
“Are you sure about that?” She asked. “I don’t want to force you to eat something you don’t want to eat.”

  
***

  
Ben laughed a little, glancing at her before the two of them crossed the street to get to the movie theatre. They ended up seeing another old movie, this time Funny Face. Ben ordered pizza and ended up paying, enduring a glare from Rey that could’ve bored holes into him right then and there. The two of them had a good time. It turned out that Ben didn’t really need to help Rey, she was so hungry that Ben only had two pieces and she ate the remaining four of the small pizza he’d bought.

  
Ben wasn’t paying attention to most of the movie, he was just glad to have Rey there. She wasn’t looking at him, she was paying attention to the movie. Ben was glad that she wasn’t paying attention to him, though. That gave him more time to think about her.

About how she carried herself like she wasn’t the most beautiful woman in the world. About how that confidence that she had as a child was gone but that childlike innocence that she had had when he knew her was still there. Even if she didn’t want to show it.

  
When the movie was done, Rey and Ben walked out of the movie theatre. “Is there anything else that you want to do?” He asked her. She shook her head no, and Ben tried not to be disappointed. “Getting kind of tired?” She shook her head yes. “Okay, I’ll take you home.” He wasn’t going to force her to do things with him, even if he was lonely.

  
The car ride home might’ve been awkward, only because of Ben though. It was probably the feeling that he was disappointed in the fact that she didn’t want to do more, but he really didn’t want to push her either. He didn’t want to be that type of person. He really didn’t want to be. When they parked, Rey said, “I'm sorry that I didn’t want to do more stuff.

It's just, sometimes I get tired.”

  
“Why are you saying sorry? I understand.”

  
“So you’re not disappointed?”

  
“No,”

  
“Or mad?”

  
“No,” He was starting to get a little irritated though he tried not to be.

  
“Oh,” Rey looked lost at that statement and then bid him goodnight after he walked her back to her apartment. He hoped he hadn’t screwed everything up. 


End file.
